Based on your feedback, we have ramped up the number of monitoring hours to give improve your access to our clubhouse and better manage our court utilization. Monitors will actively engage members to ensure the club is functioning as planned and will ensure members are accountable for their court bookings. To prevent any misunderstanding, please read below a number of very important rules that everyone should be familiar with. Violating these rules could cause you to have your booking privileges temporarily suspended or even entirely revoked.

1. Guests: Guests are only allowed to play at our club in the afternoon during public court hours, on a walk-on basis. Members are not allowed to use other members names to book the courts and then brings guests instead. If you are caught doing this, your membership will be revoked without refund. Our courts are for members only and anyone that wants to play on our courts (other than guests visiting for league play, players in lessons, or guests playing in the afternoon during public court hours) must purchase a membership.

2. Monitors:  We have greatly expanded our monitoring hours. When monitors are on duty, they will be going around to the courts and asking players to present ID. Please bring a photo ID with you to the court and please show it to the monitor when asked.  Members must follow directions from our monitors at all times. Anyone not following directions or otherwise disrespecting monitors may have their membership revoked.

3. Names booked on the court: All of the members who are playing on a court should be booked on that court. If you are playing doubles, there should be 4 members booked on the court. If you are playing singles, there should be 2 members booked on the court. If someone drops out and is replaced by another member, the court should be cancelled and immediately re-booked with all of the correct names. There is no way to edit the names on the court without cancelling and re-booking. The system is designed this way to ensure that members don't "play" the system and use the names of other less active members as placeholders. If the court is not originally booked with the correct names, there may be a risk of losing the court if you need to cancel and rebook it. Courts can be cancelled and re-booked up to one hour before play.  If unavoidable last-minute changes need to be made, please email the details to our manager at manager@rhltc.ca. The manager can make last-minute changes and will do so as long as the same people are not requesting these changes all the time. Players not booked on the court will be required to leave.

4. Booking Juniors: Adult members are not allowed to play in place of a junior member. Our junior memberships are deeply discounted to encourage young people to take up the game. It is a serious violation of our rules to book a court with a junior member and replace that person with an adult member or a guest. If there is a last-minute change, the court needs to be cancelled and re-booked with the correct names. If a junior member is booked on a court, he or she must be playing. Anyone caught doing this will have their membership revoked without refund.

5. Single players: Our courts cannot be booked by single players. We require at least two people to be playing to book a court. If you want to use your own ball machine, you must book the court with 2 members, and both must be present. We also ask that you only book on court 4 so that the balls do not interfere with the other courts. If you'd like to just use a court to practice your serve, you can try to come during public court hours in the afternoon and you can use the court as a single person if no one else is waiting. If there are others waiting, you will need to give them the court or let them join you. All members are also welcome to walk-on to any unbooked courts at any time. This would be another way to practice your serve as a single provided there are no other members waiting to use the court as well. If other members are waiting to walk-on, you would have to share the court with them or let them take it over as having 2 or more players on our courts is the rule when players are waiting.

6. Cancelling courts when you can't make it: With the convenience of online court booking, there is an added responsibility for members to use the courts they have reserved. Cancellations can be made online up until 1 hour before a reserved court time. Failure to cancel a court in time or no-shows will result in an automatic 7-day loss of booking and playing privileges. During this penalty period, the member will not be able to book any courts on our booking system. This rule will be enforced this season with our added monitor hours.  Please remember that we are a tennis community, and we need to be respectful to each other. We hope that all members will use the time that they book or cancel if their plans change. We need to ensure that our courts are not wasted. If the courts are wet and cannot be used, you do not have to cancel your court. 

A few other notes:

Returning balls after league play: Please remember to give the balls to your captain after league play.  They are responsible for giving them to our manager who will be checking to see that she gets balls from each captain. We use these balls again for socials and clinics. We count on getting them back, so we don’t have to open new balls for these programs.

Rollers: We would appreciate if all members can do us a favour and make sure that the rollers that are used to dry the courts after it rains are always hung up on the fence or at least placed upside down. They should not be resting on the roller itself as this causes the rollers to become flat and then they do not work as well to remove the water. If you see a roller sitting on the ground, please hang it up or turn it over for us.

Reviewing booking rules: We recommend that all members review our court booking guidelines posted on our website to ensure that you understand how to book courts and what the rules and restrictions are.

Thank you for your attention and adherence to these very important rules.

Regards,  

Carol Yack

VP, Richmond Hill Lawn Tennis Club

We are still a few weeks away from outdoor tennis, but we are starting to get organized for the season. This year we have a full schedule, with more Intercounty teams than ever before. House League is back to its traditional Wednesday only format without Intercounty players, and we will be offering longer socials on Mondays.

Registration is now open with our fees remaining the same as the regular price in the previous years.

• Adult Membership - $105
• Family Membership - $250
• Junior Membership - $35

        * Note that there is no early bird special this year.

Please register as soon as possible, so that we can set up our programs based upon accurate member numbers.

There are few changes in our plans for the summer that you need to consider during registration:

• We have increased our evening Intercounty offering to 8 teams (1 A, 4 B, and 3 C) and we are planning to extend our Monday socials. This means that bookings evening bookings (7 to 11 PM) Monday to Thursday between mid May and the end of August won’t be possible except for rare exceptions.

• We have changed the selection process for Intercounty teams. By now, most rosters are full and teams are selected. If you have a confirmed position on an Intercounty team, please select the option in the registration / renewal process to pay your $15 team fee up front. If you don’t have a confirmed spot or are unsure, don’t pay at this point. We will open an alternative method of payment later on for those whose fees are missing. Note that paying the fee at registration does not guarantee a spot on a team if it has not been confirmed by the captain.

• As communicated last year, we are limiting participation in the House League to members who are not participating in evening Intercounty tennis at our club or at any other ICTA club. That way, we are ensuring that all members have an equal opportunity to play at least once in prime-time hours during the week. We are also trying to offer a specific level of play that is above recreational but not as high as Intercounty. If you are unsure about your participation on an IC team, you can sign up for House League now, but you will need to withdraw from House League if you are placed on an Intercounty roster. We will cross check the list as we start the season. The House League fee is $20 for the season.

• We will be expanding our monitoring hours this season. All members will be asked to check-in with our monitor when the club house opens in mid May. Only those members whose names are actually booked on the court will be permitted to play. Penalties for not using your booked court without cancelling will also be enforced this season.

• We continue to offer lessons for kids and adults under the supervision of our pro, Adam Johnston. Registration for spring and summer lessons is already open through our website. Sign up before it is too late.

Although the season starts officially on May 4th, we will endeavour to have the nets up as soon as the weather allows after April 1st and court booking will be available immediately. The club house will likely not be open until mid May once our Intercounty season begins. We will also try to bring the windscreens up as early as possible, so that we can enjoy the better conditions they provide. Stay tuned for our call to assist with the installation.

Looking forward to seeing you on the courts very soon!

Regards,  
David Garcia
President Richmond Hill Lawn Tennis Club